That’s funny, but bogus. The problem with “time online” is in two parts: You can (and often do) come away from social media feeling less good about yourself (see below for my partial answer to that). And you don’t get enough sleep, which is bad for you AND your mood. The putative shrink-bot would “know” that, and address those issues, not a broader (and wrong) one.
Partial answer: I have an account at Facebrick, and I spend more than an hour per day (sometimes several) reading and writing there. But I have a shortish (couple hundred) group of “friends” there and we share almost entirely “this is cool / good / awesome / weird / funny” stuff with each other. We (mostly) don’t talk about stuff that would make someone jealous, or tout our great good fortune, or mostly talk about things that could cause arguments or anger. In other words, my FB friends are actually, well, friends. I did this purposefully when I set up my account: I have, with exactly two exceptions, only FB friends with whom I’m already at least nominally friends in real life. Folks I actually DO (or would if we were spatially near each other now) go out with and enjoy their company. And those two exceptions: I’d happily spend some time with them IRL if the occasion arises.
Not so strangely, I don’t come away from my Facebrick sessions feeling depressed, ugly, put down or upset. Just happy to have spent some pleasant time (sort of with) my friends.
The sleep thing, though… that I’m still working on.
brwydave Premium Member about 1 month ago
Reading the comments on Go-Comics and occasionally chiming in is more than enough on-line therapy for me.
Concretionist about 1 month ago
That’s funny, but bogus. The problem with “time online” is in two parts: You can (and often do) come away from social media feeling less good about yourself (see below for my partial answer to that). And you don’t get enough sleep, which is bad for you AND your mood. The putative shrink-bot would “know” that, and address those issues, not a broader (and wrong) one.
Partial answer: I have an account at Facebrick, and I spend more than an hour per day (sometimes several) reading and writing there. But I have a shortish (couple hundred) group of “friends” there and we share almost entirely “this is cool / good / awesome / weird / funny” stuff with each other. We (mostly) don’t talk about stuff that would make someone jealous, or tout our great good fortune, or mostly talk about things that could cause arguments or anger. In other words, my FB friends are actually, well, friends. I did this purposefully when I set up my account: I have, with exactly two exceptions, only FB friends with whom I’m already at least nominally friends in real life. Folks I actually DO (or would if we were spatially near each other now) go out with and enjoy their company. And those two exceptions: I’d happily spend some time with them IRL if the occasion arises.
Not so strangely, I don’t come away from my Facebrick sessions feeling depressed, ugly, put down or upset. Just happy to have spent some pleasant time (sort of with) my friends.
The sleep thing, though… that I’m still working on.
Màiri about 1 month ago
The new Eliza
elgrecousa Premium Member about 1 month ago
Forget the CHATBOT; go get some fresh air. I guarantee it would help more.